Rotary pump



Nov. 4, 1952 F. l.. CARSON 2,516,374

` ROTARY PUMP Filed July 11, 1947 5 sheeis-sheet 1 I "rentar NOV. 4, 1952 F, I| CARSON 2,616,374

ROTARY PUMP Filed July ll, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 z5 `Z7 ZZ gif- M774 In venlo r Fran 7c ya raam.

B5' i Attorneys Nov. 4, 1952 F. l.. CARSON 2,516,374

' ROTARY PUMP Filed July 11. 1947 3' sheets-sheet s In vento" Atto rneys atented Nov. 4, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ROTARY PUMP v Frank L. Carson, Hollywood, Calif.

Application July 11, 1947, Serial No. 760,450

s Claims.

This invention relates to an improved construction of rotary pump of the type employing a rotor or impeller having resilient vanes or blades, each of which is flexed during each revolution thereof for varying the size of the chambers therebetween for augmenting the action of the pump in drawing in and expelling the medium being pumped.

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a rotary pump having a frusto-conical shaped housing and rotor to permit the arrangement of the inlet and outlet ports of the pump at one side of the pump rather than in the periphery thereof, so that the case or housing can be more readily disassembled for inspection, cleaning or replacement of parts and to eliminate the side thrust upon the impeller and its driving shaft.

Otherobjects of the invention are to provide a pump, the case or housing of which readily lends itself to die casting or stamping; the tapered construction of which causes the medium being pumped to constantly crowd toward the end thereof of larger diameter and in which the inlet and outlet ports are formed to facilitate the ejection of the pump medium therefrom; which can be employed without the use of a seal or stuilng box around the shaft and without a bearing for the shaft at the outer end of the impeller and wherein the taper of the vanes and impeller hub vary to facilitate the unobstructed rotation of the impeller.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawings, illustrating a preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational View of a rotary pump constructed in accordance with the invention and looking toward the inlet side thereof;

Figure 2 is a top plan View thereof;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal, substantially central vertical sectional view of the pump;

Figures 4 and 5 are cross sectional views thereof, taken substantially along planes as indicated by the lines 4-4 and 5 5, respectively, of Figure 1; Y y

Figure 6 is a view lookingtoward the inner face of the housing and with the impeller shown in dotted lines, orin the opposite direction to Figure v Figure 7 is a fragmentary cross sectional View through the pump shaft and showing a portion of the impeller or rotor disposed immediately therearound;

Figure 8 is a plan view of a reinforcing part of the rotor;

Figure 9 is a radial sectional view taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 9-9 of Figure 6, and

Figure l0 is an end elevational View of the impeller or rotor, looking toward its outer, smaller end.

Referring more specically to the drawings, the improved rotary pump in its entirety is designated generally I2 and includes a pump housing. designated generally I3 which comprises a main body portion I4 and a pump case I5.

The main body portion I4 of the housing includes an elongated bearing I6 in which a driven shaft I'I is journalled. The bearing I6 is provided with a lubricating port I8, in its upper part. The main body portion I4 of the housing is provided with a substantially disk-shaped machined face I9, at its inner end and which is formed integral with one end of the bearing I6, the lower portion of which is inwardly hanged to provide a base 2B, which is adapted to be secured by fastenings 2| to any suitable supporting surface for mounting the pump I2, xedly with respect thereto. The upper portion of the machined face I9, on its inner or rear side, is formed integral with a transversely disposed tubular conduit, designated generally 22 and which, as best seen in Figure 4, includes a solid or closed nterrnediate portion 23 and longitudinally extending, open end portions 24 and v25, the inner ends of' which communicate with ports 26 and 21, respectively, which are disposed at right angles to the passages 24 and 25 and which extend outwardly through the machined face I9. The ports 26 and 21 are arcuate in shape, as seen in Figure 4, and are disposed substantially concentric to the bearing IS and pump shaft I1.

The pump housing I3, when completely assembled has the pump casing I5 mounted on its inner end, and said case I5 includes a hollow, substantially frusto-conical body portion 28, the outer, restricted end 29 of which is closed by an end wall, while the enlarged inner and open end thereof is provided with an outwardly projecting annular flange 30, which is adapted to fit against the outer portion of the machined face I9 and to be detachably secured thereto by bolts or other fastenings 3I, which engage aligned openings thereof and which bolts are preferably detachably secured by engagement with internally threaded openings of the machined face I9.

The chamber of the pump case I5, designated 32, is likewise tapered toward the restricted outer closed end 29 thereof, and said tapered portion is provided with an eccentric portion 33 which is disposed in closer proximity to the axis of the pump case I than the remainder of the frustoconical wall and for a purpose which Will hereinafter become apparent. As seen in Figure 5, said restricted or eccentric portion 33 is slightly arcuate in shape and is adapted to be disposed at the upper part of the pump housing I3, when the case I5 is secured to the main body I4 and so that the ends of said eccentric portion 33 will communicate with the ports 26 and 21.

The pump case i5 is adapted to contain a rotor or impeller, designated generally 34 which includes a hub, designated generally 35 which is tapered from its inner to its outer end and which f n has axial bore 33 to receive one end of the shaft I'I. Said end of the shaft I'I, as best seen in Figures 3 and 7, is xed to the hub 35 by a key` 37 which engages a recess 38 in said shaft end and also a recess 39 of the rotor hub. The rotor hub 35 is preferably formed of rubber and has a perforated sleeve 4i] molded therein and disposed concentrically around the bore 35 thereof and spaced outwardly slightly from the recess 39. rhe perforated sleeve 48 may be formed of any suitable metal or other rigid material and a'ords a means to prevent expansion of the inner portion of the hub 35, so that said inner portion is thereby rendered substantially rigid to retain the key 3l' against accidental disengagement fro-m either the recess 38 or the recess 39.

As best illustrated in Figure 10, the impellerv or rotor 33 includes a plurality of corresponding circumferentially spaced blades or vanes I which project radially from the hub 35 and which extend from end to end thereof. The vanes or Vblades 4I likewise taper from the larger to the smaller end of the rotor 34 and as clearly illustrated in Figure l0, the taper of the outer edges of the Vanes 4| is greater than that of the hub 35, for a purpose which will hereinafter become apparent.

As best illustrated in Figure 5, the enlarged, inner end of the hub 35 is provided with an annular groove 42 and the machined face I9, as best seen in Figure 6, is provided with a radial groove i3 which communicates at its outer end with the port 26 and the inner end of which is disposed to communicate with said groove 42 when the rotor 35i is disposed within the assembled pump housing I3, as clearly illustrated in Figure 9 and for a purpose which will hereinafter be described.

Assuming that the inlet passage 24 is connected to a suitable source, not shown, of a liquid or fluid medium to be pumped, and assuming that the pump shaft Il is being rotated by a suitable driving means, said shaft and the rotor or impeller 3ft will be revolved in the direction as indicate-d by the arrows 34 in Figures 5 and 6. As the individual vanes ll pass over the eccentric or cam surface 33 of the pump case I5, said vanes will be bent over so that the chamber therebetween and the vane in advance thereof, in the direction of rotation of the impeller will be enlarged. As each v-ane moves out of engagement with the restricted or cam surface 33, it will by its resiliency, snap back to its normal radial disposition with respect to the hub 35 and this will occur as the Vane is passing across the inlet port 25 of the pump housing I3. It will be readily apparent that the vane in snapping back to its radial position will increase the size of Ythe chamber formed byI said-vane .and the next trailing vane which then is Ain engagement with 'the restricted or cam surface 33, so as to create a suction in this chamber for sucking the medium being pumped into the pump case I5. It will be readily apparent that this will occur as each blade 4I moves out of engagement with the restricted surface 33 and passes across the inlet port 26. The iiuid or liquid thus sucked into each of the pump chambers is conveyed downwardly and around the lower portion of the pump case I5 and thenY upwardly to be discharged from the outlet port 2l as each of said pump chambers moves into registry therewith. It will likewise Y-be readily apparent that as each pump chamber moves into registry with the outlet port 21, the leading vane 4I thereof will be approaching the restricted or cam portion 33 and in moving into engagement therewith will be turned downwardly, as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 6, to thereby restrict the pump chamber which is discharging through the outlet port 2'I for squeezing the pumped medium therefrom. The pump medium after passing through the outlet port 21 is discharged from the outlet passage 25 into `any suitable conduit or other means, not sho-Wn, through which the pumped medium is to be conveyed.

It will be readily apparent that thetapered construction of the cavity of the pump case yI5 and the rotor 34 will cause the medium being pumped to crowd toward the enlarged end of said recess or toward the machined or bearing face I9 from which it can be most readily expelledv from the outlet port 2l, and because of this, the enlarged end of the rotor 34 is retained in tight engagement with the bearing face I9, so that the necessity of a stumng box around the shaft I'I is eliminated. To further insure that none of the liquid will reach the bearing I6, the groove 42 is provided and which will trap any liquid seeping between the bearing face I3 and the enlarged end of the hub 35 and as said groove 42 is constantly in communication with the radial groove 43, and as a constant suction exists at the intake port 25, with which said radial groove 43 communicates, it will be readily apparent that any of the pumped medium reaching the groove 42 will be sucked back into or toward the inlet port 2B therefrom through the radial channel 43.

By locating the inlet and outlet ports 2S; and 27 in an end wall of the pump chamber rather than in the periphery thereof, it will bereadily apparent that the pump case I5 can be readily removed without disturbing the connection of the pump to the source of the medium to be pumped,

or the discharge therefrom, and for-the purpose of cleaning the pump caseI5 and rotor 34 or for removing or replacing any parts thereof. Like-Y wise, by admitting and discharging the pumped medium from an end of the pump chamber, substantially all radial thrust is relievedv from the rotor and consequently from the pump shaft I'I to minimize Wear on said shaft and on the bear-v ing I3. Further, -since lsubstantially no radial thrust exists, no bearing is required for the end of the shaft II which extends through the impeller 34. I

By forming the pump case I5, with the frustoconical shape as illustrated and as previously described, it is possible to readily die cast or stamp the pump case I5 either with or without the eccentric portion 33, and the frusto-conical shape of the pump case I5 also has an important centering eifect on the rotor 34.

one end than at the other or -is disposed slightly od center of the top thereof, sothat the vanes 4l moveoutof engagement with said surface 'ata pointn'earer' the topv dead center of the case I5 than at the point at which they move into'ensagement therewith, and which increases the effectiveness ofy restricting the pump chambers for expellingthe pumped medium therefrom.V

As the'outer edges of the vanes 4| are tapered to a considerably greater extent than the periphery of, the hub 35, said vanes 4l arefallowed to bendl slightly away from the bearing'face I9 to eliminate the throwing out of a protrusion by each vane 4I as it moves across the restricted surface 33 and to thus minimize wear on the enlarged ends of the vanes. In view of this increased taper of the vanes with respect to the periphery of the hub, it will be readily obvious that the cam surface 33 will be disposed nearly parallel to the periphery of the hub 35 and as a result, the enlarged ends of the vanes will be turned over to a greater extent by the restricted cam surface 33, for increasing the extent that said vanes will restrict the pump chambers and to magnify the suction produced when the vanes move out of engagement with said cam surface 33.

By providing a rotary pump employing a tapered impeller or rotor, the molding of the rotor is simplified, as it may be more easily withdrawn from the mold.

Obviously, if desired, the tapered wall of the recess of the pump case l5 could be formed annular and said case could be offset downwardly slightly so that said tapered wall would be eccentric to the pump shaft and impeller, and so that the upper portion thereof, nearest the intake and discharge ports 26 and -21, would be in closer proximity to the pump shaft, for the same purpose as the eccentric surface 33. Likewise, various other modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously be resorted to, without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A rotary pump comprising a housing having parallel end walls and a substantiallv annular frusto-conical side wall extending between said end walls and combining therewith to define a substantially frusto-conical pump chamber, a rotor or impeller rotatably mounted in the pump chamber including a plurality of integral resilient and ilexible radially projecting vanes extending from end-to-end of the rotor, the outer peripheral edges of said vanes being tapered to substantially conform to the taper of said pump chamber and for engagement with the frustoconical side wall thereof, one of said end walls having circumferentially spaced inlet and outlet ports opening into one end of the pump chamber and communicating with the spaces between said vanes, and said side wall having an internally thickened portion extending from end-to-end thereof dening an internal wall surface of the side wall which is disposed eccentrically of the axis of the housing and of the rotor, said thickened side wall portion defining an internal cam surface engaged by the outer peripheral edges of the vanes and by which the vanes are bent over in passing over the cam surface.

2. A rotary pump as in claim 1, said pump chamber having an enlarged end and a restricted end, and said inlet and outlet ports opening into the enlarged end of the pump chamber.

3. A rotary pump as in claim 1, said housing being formed of a body section and a pump casing section, said pump casing section having a re- 6'9 stricted closedendand an enlarged, open end, said body section having a bearing extending longitudinally therethrough, a driven shaft journaled in said bearing and keyed to the rotor, said body section having a disk-shaped end disposed at a right angle to the axis ofthe bearing and constituting said rst mentioned end wall of the housing. inwhich said inlet and outlet ports are formed andto which the enlarged open end of `the -pump casing section is'detachably secured,

saidfpump Vcasing section having-a substantially frusto-conical recess therein opening outwardly of its enlarged end and dening said pump chamber, said enlarged end of the pump casing section being flanged to engage against and be secured to an annular portion if the first mentioned end wall of the housing.

4. A rotary pump as in claim 1, said impeller or rotor including a tapered hub formed of a resilient material and from which said vanes project, said hub being tapered in the same direction as the vanes and to a lesser extent, said hub having an axially disposed bore, a driven shaft having one end extending into said bore and keyed to the hub, and said hub having a substantially rigid perforated sleeve disposed therein adjacent said bore but spaced from the bore and from the periphery of the hub for compressing and rigidifying the center portion of the hub to retain the hub in keyed relationship to said driven shaft.

5. A rotary pump comprising va pump housing having parallel end walls and a substantially annular frusto-conical side wall extending between said end walls and combining therewith to define a substantially frusto-conical pump chamber, one of said end walls having inlet and outlet ports circumferentially spaced from one another, said side wall having an internally thickened portion forming a cam surface disposed within a portion of said pump chamber, said cam surface being disposed between said ports and eccentrically disposed relatively to the axis of the housing, and a frusta-conical driven rotor or impeller rotatably disposed in said pump chamber including a hub and integral circumferentially spaced vanes or blades, said vanes or blades projecting radially from the hub and having outer peripheral edges tapered for wiping engagement with said side wall, said vanes or blades being resilient and flexible and being bent over in passing across said cam surface for varying the size of the chambers formed between said vanes for sucking a pumped medium into the pump chamber through the inlet port and for expelling the pumped medium from the outlet port.

6. A rotary pump as in claim 5, said pump chamber having an enlarged end into which said inlet and outlet ports open.

7. A rotary pump as in claim 5, said rotor hub being tapered in the same direction as the peripheral edges of the vanes, and the taper of the peripheral edges of said vanes being greater than the taper of the rotor hub.

8. A rotary pump as in claim 5, said rotor hub I being tapered in the same direction as the peripheral edges of the vanes, and the taper of the peripheral edges of said vanes being greater than the taper of the rotor hub and of the cam surface to prevent a protrusion being thrown out by the vanes against said first mentioned end wall while the vanes are engaged by said cam surface.

FRANK L. CARSON.

(References on following page) 

